Classical Editor: Rob Barnett                               Founder Len Mullenger: Len@musicweb-international.com

Richard STRAUSS
Don Quixote Op. 35
Romance for 'Cello and Orchestra, Sonata for 'Cello and Piano Op. 6

Steven Isserlis ('cello) Stephen Hough (piano)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Lorin Maazel
RCA RED SEAL 74321 75398 2 [75:34]

Crotchet   AmazonUK   AmazonUS  
Amazon recommendations

 

Ten years ago the young Steven Isserlis performed Don Quixote in front of a friendly audience in Minneapolis and returned over the next two days to make a studio recording with the Minnesota Orchestra under its then Music Director Edo de Waart. Over the intervening years, of course, Isserlis has risen to considerable eminence and this new recording reflects his growing maturity in every respect.

Maazel can often give performances of great technical perfection but with a seeming lack of heart. Happily, on this occasion, he is at the top of his form shaping the music brilliantly and with a calm assurance. The recording allows a wealth of detail to emerge and Isserlis is balanced completely naturally, within a very wide dynamic range. The Munich based players know this music inside out and Maazel gives them the requisite time to express and characterize their solos and chamber-like ensembles. The wind machine really sounds like wind and the monks (bassoons) are as dry and academic as could be!

Isserlis gives a truly heartfelt performance and although his Virgin Classics recording was no mean effort, he now expresses the humour, gravity, irony and pathos of the Don with marvellous subtlety. The finale with its long stretched out melody finds him playing with both simplicity and intense concentration. This really is a case of suspended disbelief - Strauss's musical description of this complex 'hero' is portrayed by Isserlis to an almost tangible degree.

The couplings are ideal and, as we have come to expect from their previous recordings for RCA, the Isserlis/Hough combination ensures the highest quality of music making.

The fly in the ointment? Unbelievably BMG fails to mention the name of the excellent solo violist anywhere on the packaging or in the booklet. Artists nearly always ask to see the proofs of the printed parts before they are sent to the factory and many large companies simply refuse to comply. Such an attitude is both boorish and dangerous. Doubtless had Isserlis seen the proofs he would have spotted this piece of discourtesy immediately. Sadly, no mention of the fine solo violinist or oboist either - although this is more common in recordings of Don Quixote.

The Virgin recording is available as part of an amazingly inexpensive all-Isserlis double album (VBD5 61490-2), but if you can, go for this superb new full-price issue from RCA.

Simon Foster



Return to Index

Reviews from previous months
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board.  Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.This is the only part of MusicWeb for which you will have to register.


You can purchase CDs, tickets and musician's accessories and Save around 22% with these retailers: